The ship's violinist who sadly lost his life when the ship sank.
Fact File
Name: John 'Jock' Law Hume
Born: 9th August 1890 - Dumfries, Scotland
Died: 15th April 1912 (21 years, 8 months and 6 days old) - North Atlantic Ocean
Buried: 8th May 1912 - Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Occupation: Violinist employed by the music agency, C.W. and F.N. Black
John Law Hume is the most well known member of the band that played on Titanic, as his family spent many years after his death feuding in court…
…The feud started when in 1909 at the Rood Fair, Jock's sister Nellie introduced him to her a friend from the glove making factory, Mary Costin who managed to 'capture young Jock’s heart’ during the final years of his life.
Andrew Hume however did not approve of his son's relationship with Mary Costin as he thought that Jock could do better so he did everything in his power to stop it. So he forbade him from bringing Mary to the house and 'made life as difficult as possible for Jock' but instead of pushing them apart he pushed them closer together.
During the last year of his life, Jock lived with Mary and her mother Susan in between voyages and on the 9th April 1912 when he left Dumfries for the final time, they were engaged to be married on his return from the Titanic.
Jock had just been given the news from his fiancée, Mary Costin that he was to become a dad. He had been given this news, the night before he was set to leave his home in Dumfries, Scotland to make the journey to Southampton where he would join the Titanic on April 10, 1912.
It has been said that the day Jock was set to leave for Southampton, he and his fiancée had to run most of the way as they were able to hear his train in the distance. If they had not run instead just kept walking, there is the possibility that he might have survived the sinking instead of losing his life.
However, this was not where John Law Hume’s story finishes. Both the Costin family and Hume family would end up coming to blows after the sinking over something that should have brought them altogether.
After Titanic sank, Mary had gone to tell Jock's father that he was going to be a grandfather but he didn’t want to acknowledge it, instead he accused her of being a whore and that the baby was not Jock's. So when Mary give birth to hers and Jock’s daughter Johnann Law Hume Costin, she filed for paternity.
Andrew Hume (Jock’s father) took his son’s fiancée to court as he had not approved of the relationship as Andrew believed his son could do better. he also felt that by Mary saying that the baby was Jock's child it would tarnish his son's name.
However, with the birth of the baby, Mary now had proof that Jock was the father due to the birth certificate (meaning that Andrew could no longer deny their relationship and who the father of the child was), so she applied to the Titanic Relief Fund which was set up to help the families who lost their loved ones. The cheque which was sent to Mary for Johnann accidentally got sent to Andrew Hume, who was told it was to be forwarded on but he denied receiving the money.
In December 1913, Mary was awarded the money through the court. Therefore, the one last connection he would have had to his son disappeared as he did not want anything to do with his grandchild.
Unfortunately, what none of Jock’s family (including his fiancée) knew was that this was not his first child. In fact, by the time Jock was given the news that he was going to be a father he already had a son who was born in 1911 to a Jamaican maid in the hotel which he had worked over the winter period of 1910 to 1911.
This child remained unknown until a couple of years ago when Christopher Ward, the grandson of John Law Hume and Mary Costin, was contacted by a researcher who had found a document from the Titanic Relief Fund. This document stated that Mary Costin was not the only person receiving money for her child. This led to Christopher to go and investigate this branch of his family tree (using his journalist skills of searching for someone) that he had no knowledge of till now.
One historian, Nicholas R. DeWitt of Western Pennsylvania, who has also studied the ship for 25 years took the time to answer some questions about the most famous of Titanic’s Band members.
Do you know anything about the band and in particular John Law Hume?
“John Law "Jock" Hume's story is particularly interesting, as is the larger story of the band. I know that Hume's body was recovered by the SS Mackay-Bennett, but that the company that employed the musicians offered nothing in the way of financial support to the family and indeed billed the family for the uniform that Hume was wearing when he drowned.”
You mention how the band's family was billed for the uniform do you know why?
“As it was lost in the sinking, they wanted to recoup the loss as he couldn’t return it to the company. It shocked the family how heartless the move was.”
The fact that at the time the bill would have been sent for the uniform, none of the bandsmen’s families would have known whether or not their loved ones had survived and if they hadn’t would their bodies be recovered. This is what makes this so shocking, but due to the way the wages would have stopped as soon as the Titanic disappeared under the water meant that any outstanding bills that the members of the band had from their employer, Black Brothers had to be paid and unfortunately that meant the bill had to be sent to their loved ones.
When it comes to John Law Hume and the band, you hear about how the band played on and the last hymn was Nearer My God to Thee but has what people be told always the truth.
Mick A Hey said this: “The band didn't play on its a myth born out of the fact that none of them survived. Plus, the hymn nearer my god to thee actually has its origins in an earlier maritime disaster the sinking of the SS Valencia in 1906 of Vancouver. It was brought into the story of titanic by first class passenger Vera Dick whose entire story of the night of the sinking is an entire fabrication and based on fantasy. There's a lot more about the band than most people believe."
"The hymn itself graces said it was never played saying if it had "it would have been a tactless fore boding of doom " which was more likely to cause panic which would have been in total contradiction to the band being there. He also said they stopped playing the better side of half an hour before the ship sank bride the wireless operator who was in a prime position to hear the band said the last piece of music played was autumn.”
This point about the hymn has been a topic of much discussion as no one other than the people who were on Titanic the night it sank can give an accurate description on what song the band was actually playing. Some people that night have gone on to say that the band was playing Nearer My God to Thee which happens to be the one that everyone is led to believe was played. Other people, like the wireless operator (that was mentioned by Mick A Hey above) Harold Bride, who was one of the very last people to leave the ship has said he heard the hymn Autumn being played.
We may never get the correct answer as to whether or not the hymn that the band played was Nearer My God to Thee or Autumn. However, people in the Titanic community will continue to try and find the right answer to the question: Which song was actually played that night as the ship was sinking. Which song do you think was played that night? Let us know by using the following hashtag #TitanicBandFinalSong or leave a comment below.
This blog post covers a lot about John Law Hume, however, this is not where story ends. His sister Kate also suffered after the loss of her brother but that is another blog post. Also keep an eye out for my interview with Christopher Ward, John Law Hume's Grandson.
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